Yahoo Lifestyle 
Michelle Bridges on the biggest motivation mistake you're making
Michelle Bridges has been in the fitness game for a long time and knows a thing or two about the reasons people often struggle to stick to a workout routine.
A lack of motivation is often touted as one of the biggest hinderances when it comes to getting the body moving, but as the fitness guru and TV personality tells Yahoo Lifestyle, waiting for motivation to hit you is probably one of the biggest mistakes you're making.
"Motivation is like a bad boyfriend, never there when when you need it," Michelle tells us.
"I have all these people saying to me all the time, how do you stay motivated, motivate me please, I need my next hit of, you know, motivation.
"And I thought this is like a little bit of a sneaky self-sabotaging technique - thinking that 'I'm not motivated, and I don't have to exercise'."
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Well, according to Michelle, you don't actually need motivation.
"I'm not motivated to do my tax, I'm not motivated to do the dishes," she explains.
"I'm very rarely motivated to make my bed. I'm very rarely motivated to put my clothes away, but I do all these things because it keeps my life and my world squared away.
"So that's kind of shifting the way in which you think about it."
Michelle Bridge shares her 'motivation' tips
Despite this Michelle does have a few pieces of advice for anyone who might be struggling to keep moving during the colder months.
She says it's important to continue to be kind to yourself and simply try and establish 'habits and rituals'.
"Some days I'll train really hard, and then other days, I'll go for a walk with my dog, or my girlfriend, and I'll be happy with that, I'll be kind to myself," Michelle says.
"The idea is about habits, routines, and rituals. The people that are the most successful are people that have squared away their life to the point that they know on a Monday, they go to the gym at 6am before they go to work, or Tuesday, they go to the gym at lunchtime with their bestie, or they go and play hockey or netball at lunchtime at the oval down the back.
"It's like a regular clockwork. This is just what I do, and so now [moving my body] just becomes like breathing."
Having a 'wishy, washy' workout or movement routine is what leads to things getting put off more often than not, Michelle says, especially during winter.
"So if you've got yourself locked into a routine and a rhythm. Great. If you're really honing that routine and rhythm, then it should stick throughout winter," she says, adding another great way to stay accountable is to have a workout buddy.
She also says, if it's the cold you're worried about, why not try something hot.
"It's not a bad idea if you can do things that keep you warm in winter ,so for example my son at the moment is swimming, and I'm loving that because the indoor Leisure Centre is really, really warm when it's really, really freezing outside," the mum jokes.
"Bikram yoga is fantastic, training at home is fantastic if you've got the fortitude to get up and do a workout in your own home, then you're not having to get out in the cold and make your way to the gym, park the car and walk in.
"Sometimes winter workouts are a lot easier when you're doing them from home, so it's just about finding your groove finding what you like."
Michelle has just kicked off the latest round of her 12WBT challenge - which a decade after first launching will now take place 12 times a year.
It's one of the projects she is the most proud of.
"Very much in my brain right now is 12WBT and the incredible things that we're doing with people 11 years down the track, we've lost over 1.8 million kilos off the Australian public.
"Now that is something team are proud of that. I'm proud of that. And we have a very loyal following of people who've been with 12WBT almost from the beginning, they might come and go, but they come back because they know that's really what works for them."
"We have a library of content that is second to none, like we've been doing this 11 years you can imagine how many recipes we have, exercises, nutrition plans," Michelle adds.
"I mean like we go back 11 years, and it's all good content so we can go back and pull some of the stuff out and go."
You can now start Michelle Bridges’ 12WBT on the first Monday of each month. The latest round of 12WBT kicked off this week on July 5.
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